Jason West (CCO of Infinity Ward) laid off/fired?

[Pikarya]

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Original source @ NeoGAF. (Link)

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3178175

UPDATE: It appears that studio head Jason West has been let go from Infinity Ward. West's LinkedIn account now lists his position as "past," and shows that the position ended in March 2010. In addition, one of our own sources inside Infinity Ward has said that Activision is "flexing their muscles" against the studio, attempting to "push back against change." More as we hear it.

ORIGINAL: A strange situation is reportedly unfolding at Infinity Ward's offices. G4 is reporting that "a bunch of bouncer-types" recently appeared outside of the Modern Warfare 2 developer's offices, and were unwilling to disclose why they were there.

According to a source within the studio, Infinity Ward studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West met with Activision this morning and haven't been seen by staff members since. Word is that the relationship between the developer and publisher is "tense."

The atmosphere around the studio is described as "freaked out" and "confused." The source reported that "everyone is on edge."

More information as we have it.

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President/Game Director/CCO/CTO
Infinity Ward
Public Company; ATVI; Computer Games industry

January 2001 – March 2010 (9 years 3 months)

Also, said job title is in the "Past" category as opposed to "Current."

Spoiler: show

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[Qalbert]

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[Devolver]

IIRC he was going to the Activision heads trying to white-knight some changes for his studio.

[Pikarya]

IIRC he was going to the Activision heads trying to white-knight some changes for his studio.

Also rumors for the past few months of breaking off and starting another company. Which tbh I wouldn't doubt. Guess we'll have to see what the guillotine was for soon.

[kuronosan]

Well if that's true maybe he's ashamed of how Activision handled MW2 and the resulting ridicule it's been receiving.

Bowling's got that promotion note just waiting.

[Minions]

Although I'm sure it won't happen, I'd love to see all of IW just up and quit, and reform their company under a different name.

[Qalbert]

"The Company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward," Acitivsion states in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "This matter is expected to involve the departure of key personnel and litigation. At present, the Company does not expect this matter to have a material impact on the Company."

Activision also adds that it will be releasing another Call of Duty game this year. That game is believed to be developed Treyarch.

According to West's Facebook and Linked In pages, he is currently no longer working for Infinity Ward.

...

[Pikarya]

ohohoho

[Vincento]

removed

[Dmitry]

I haven't been a fan of Activision since they started buying everything. I hope these two guys make it through though, and Activision doesn't rape IW's name by churning out a bunch of crap to make money.

[Elcura]

Publishers (for the most part) are scum. I hate those bastards, but they have the money, and money is all you need.

[Insanecyclone]

Call of Duty is officially dead?

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Kotick still being a asshole

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[Kyo]

And people wonder why I hardly buy shit from activision anymore. How long till these faggots pressure blizzard to do shit differently.

[Kaisha]

How long till these faggots pressure blizzard to do shit differently.

I doubt they'd want to pressure Blizzard given the amount WoW rakes in monthly compared to all of Activisions own projects combined.

Anyways, this is just bullshit. I hope other devs follow suit with them. Treyarch can be the next Neversoft for all I care.
(aka, a one-trick pony studio made to churn out sequel after half-baked sequel while under Activision's control)

[Correction]

"The Company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward,"

'insubordination' and 'breach of contract' are standard boilerplate for firing a high level executive at a corporation (an act which mandates an SEC filing) without paying him severance, as would be specified in an executive's contract. Lawsuits incoming over said severance, for sure. Then shit gets ugly :D

[Pikarya]

How long till these faggots pressure blizzard to do shit differently.

They already do for the most part.

[Dmitry]

And people wonder why I hardly buy shit from activision anymore. How long till these faggots pressure blizzard to do shit differently.

Who's to say they aren't already?

Although, Blizzard did retain their name somewhat in the merger, so maybe the won't get pushed around as easily and the little(r) guys.

[Qalbert]

Zampella and Infinity Ward co-founder Jason West are now both confirmed to have left the company, as rumored yesterday, following a SEC filing from Activision investigating "breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward."

[Dmitry]

I wonder what the breaches of contract were.

[Palom]

I wonder what the breaches of contract were.

Most likely just some bullshit made up so they don't have to pay them for terminating the contract.